Fundamentals of Environmental Studies: Population, Land Use, Biodiversity, and Energy
Students collect macroinvertebrates in Stony Brook watershed for a lab on biodiversity.
The lab focuses on measurements of biodiversity in both terrestrial and aquatic habitats and their application to conservation and land use planning issues.
Through this fieldwork, students determine how to generate a representative sample from different field sites. From these samples, they look at spatial distribution of different species to determine patterns or “hot spots” of biodiversity.
Students collect plankton from Carnegie Lake to evaluate the lake's biomass. Gathering field samples from different sites lets students look at species diversity of macroinvertebrates in environments of differing water quality.
Macroinvertabrates are excellent indicators of water quality. Here, students collect samples to evaluate the water quality of Lake Carnegie.
Through these exercises, students also gain an understanding of the causes and consequences of water quality problems, as well as measures that can be taken toward conservation and protection of biodiversity.
For a lab on land use and its environmental consequences, students collect soil samples at the Plainsboro Nature Preserve forest.
In the field, students collect and compare samples from a variety of geographic areas (agriculture, forest, urban, wetland, barren). Here, students evaluate soil properties at Honeybrook Organic Farm to compare with those from conventional farms.
In the lab, students will couple field data with computer models to determine how levels of soil macronutrients and minerals vary among field sites with differing land use and which areas are at high risk for water contamination.
Engineering Projects in Community Service (EPICS)
Yin Liang '11 and Katrina C. Johns '09 set up a device to measure ventilation in a residential home in order to determine energy consumption and savings.
The project is part of the EPICS program, in which undergraduates earn course credit while partnering with community-based organizations to address their technology needs.
Emily A. Weissinger '09 and Yin Liang '11 take readings on home ventilation. The EPICS "Green Retrofitting Project" helps educate homeowners on strategies and benefits of green retrofitting. In addition, students are working on making the Buttinger Nature Center a showcase of energy efficiency, renewable energy, and water conservation.
Civil and Environmental Engineering: Mechanics, Materials, and Structures
Kathleen O. Kelly, a graduate student in civil and environmental engineering, works on a model of the Cosmic Ray Laboratory designed by Spanish architect and structural engineer Felix Candela.
The models are for an upcoming exhibition "Felix Candela: Engineer, Builder, Artist" at the Princeton University Art Museum this fall. Here, Sylvester T. Black '09 works on a model for the exhibition.
Edward (Ted) Segal, a graduate student in civil and environmental engineering, works on a model of Felix Candela's Bacardi Rum Factory.
Models of Felix Candela's restaurant at Xochimilco: in the foreground, a construction model created by Sylvester T. Black '09, in the background, a completed model created by Win Chun Eric Hui '09
Freshman Seminar: Signals, Yardsticks, and Tipping Points of Global Warming
Laura M. Fernandez '11 and Elizabeth H. Drumm '11 in a lab preparing for a fall break study trip to Bermuda, part of a seminar on global warming led by instructor Eileen Zerba.
On the study trip, students spend a week in Bermuda performing field and laboratory exercises to examine first-hand the issues of global warming learned about in the classroom. Here, students head out by ship to conduct field exercises.
Students spend their fall break at the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences (BIOS) conducting research that examines the effect global warming has on the degradation and disappearance of coral reefs.
Elizabeth H. Drumm '11 launches Matthew R. Salesi '11 on a float while Karen Krimm, a Princeton Environmental Institute technician looks on. From the float, Matthew will use a probe on a 50-meter cable to measure various water-quality parameters to evaluate whether different conditions influence fish and coral diversity and health.
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